About

One challenge, two works

Conceived on tour, during a road trip to the Magdalene Islands where he would watch the clouds drift by, the far-fetched idea came true in September 2013. The pianist traveled to the shores of Prelude Lake, in the Northwest Territories, to witness the Northern lights, which he had never seen before, he put his creativity to the test to be the first to take up such a challenge.

With an upright piano anchored to the rock of the Canadian Shield, at the edge of the taiga, Zavada started improvising, inspired by one of the most spectacular and majestic phenomenas on Earth. In the company of photographer Sylvain Humbert, he spent two weeks composing new pieces that were then recorded in studio. The album Résonances boréales was released in February 2016. Co-produced by Carl Talbot and Ivan Zavada, the piano compositions reflects with sensibility the feeling we have under the northern lights in a very poetic way.

In September 2015, exactly two years later, Zavada returned to the scene of his creation. Along with Dominic St-Amant and Bruno Colpron, he repeated his experience of the extraordinary setting that had inspired him in order to create the very first immersive film to capture a 360-view of the northern lights in real time.

Shows

Résonances boréales 360o

This 360 degree breathtaking show creates a visual environment in full symbiosis with Roman Zavada's piano compositions and the Northern lights. This unique immersive experience brings the audience straight into the heart of the boreal forest above the 60th parallel. The stunning real-time images of the aurora boralis combined with the piano performance were acclaimed by the critics and the public during the last Montréal en lumières winter festival in February 2016. Sold out for more than 25 representations, this show is a must in the 360 degree community.

Available with live piano performance and/or licenced with 5.1 surround sound.

Résonances boréales – conventional venue

Roman Zavada is presently working on an upcoming musical concert adapted for conventional venue. Available September 2016.

More information coming soon.

Biography

Roman Zavada, pianiste

Roman Zavada is a self-taught Ukrainian and Québécois-born pianist whose creative direction is based on instinct, spontaneity, and improvisation.

His first experiences with the piano go back to early childhood. He was born to the instrument, which quickly became his favoured means of expression. Raised on the piano playing of his mother, who taught the instrument at home and in university, he penned his first piano composition at the tender age of 4. He then undertook conservatory studies but quickly realised that this approach to learning was not suited to him. He much preferred reinventing the pieces he was being forced to play. It was a sign of the kind of path Zavada was about to embark on: atypical, self-taught, and dedicated to experimentation.

Towards the end of his teenage years, on the cusp of adulthood, he was getting to know his way around a stage, developing a real passion for showmanship and improvisation. Following the release of Terre de feu and Nuit des temps, two more traditional self-produced albums, he took on an exciting and unusual responsibility: replacing Gabriel Thibodeau, the Cinémathèque québécoise silent film accompanist.

This was a real turning point in his career, pointing the way towards his future: to improvise musical narration in real-time in such a way that the musical notes of the soundtrack seem part and parcel to the film. Repeating the experience in venues across the entire province of Quebec, he quickly garnered a public and critical reputation as a silent film accompanist.

The pianist’s Du cinéma muet au piano parlant show was devoted to breathing new life into the silver screen classics of the past. He now returns to his personal compositions with an all-new large-scale project: Résonances boréales. His goal? To continue exploring the dialog between piano and images, this time substituting silent films with aurora borealis in motion in the night sky. And especially, to put his creativity to the test in an environment that is anything but mundane: the Northwest Territories’ boreal forest. This very particular initiative – with no equivalent in the entire world – will lead to a new album and immersive 360 degree performance experience in February 2016. Through these two daring, authentic productions, Zavada continues like no other to push the limits of the piano, his only true mother tongue.

Buy/ Video footage

Length: 450 minutes
In the heart of the boreal forest, the northern lights were
captured in a 6k x 6k resolution, 360 x 215 degree in real-time media.
Never before has this phenomenon been captured in such a way.
To buy footage you can communicate with:
Pascal Pelletier +1 (514) 586-0467pp@fig55.com

Productions Figure 55

10 years now, Figure 55 has been exploring all digital devices placed at their disposal, so that the public sense various immersive experiences. Virtual reality and 360 degree movies mark a turning point in our expertise, starting from the production stages till the final broadcast of these creations.

Contact

Résonances boréales 360o with a live performance under the dome
Pascal Pelletier
514-586-0467pp@fig55.com